Strangers, Again
by La Vie Musicale
Summary: There are different stages in every life of a relationship. Come with us as we explore those stages with Ichigo and Rukia as they start as strangers, and possibly, become strangers again. Collab with xXxMiserableLoveFairyxXx. AU. IchiRuki.
1. Stage One: Meeting

**This is a story that I thought about and it's a collaboration with xXxMiserableLoveFairyxXx. This was inspired by a video on youtube with the same title. Go check it out when you get a chance.**

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**Stage One: Meeting**

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It was just supposed to be a normal day for Ichigo. He just needed to the bookstore for a book of Shakespeare's sonnets for his European Lit class. He wasn't expecting to find anything out of the ordinary. But when he found the book that he was looking for and looked up from the low shelf, he saw her. He immediately thought how beautiful she was, despite himself. Her short black hair kissed her cheeks as she moved it out of the way. Her pale skin was practically glowing in his eyes, and she had a small smile gracing her lips as she as she read the back of the book in her hands. It was all hard for him to keep from staring, but somehow he had managed to tear his eyes away, but only for a moment.

He watched her for a while longer, all the while feeling more and more like a stalker towards the beautiful stranger. As he watched, he noticed how she was very short. Never had he used the world 'cute', but when she was reaching for the shelves that were just a little too tall for her, the word popped up in his mind.

She then looked up at a higher shelf, and found a book that was incredibly interesting to her. But she couldn't quite reach it, and unlike other books that were too high up, she didn't just leave it. Ichigo couldn't just watch that happen to her. So, despite himself, he walked over to her and reached up to get the book she was eyeing. She looked up at him with big, beautiful, violet eyes.

"Is this the book you wanted?"

She gave a smile and nodded. "Yeah, thank you."

"Sure." Ichigo nodded. He looked at the book for a second, then smirked before handing it to her. "I've never heard of this book before."

"It's a horror romance story. Not many people know about these kinds of stories. What do you have?"

Ichigo flipped his book in his hand before looking at her. "I got a book of Shakespeare's sonnets for my European Literature class. But to be honest, I'd probably have gotten the book even if I weren't taking the class."

"A fan of Shakespeare are we?"

Ichigo nodded. "He's my idol."

"Well that's good. Not many people really like Shakespeare. They know of him, but really the only work they know by him is Romeo and Juliet."

"Is someone a little sensitive about this topic?"

"It's just I like a good read. And the tragedies are my favorite."

"I'm personally more of a sonnet guy. I was surprised when I looked through my collection of books and found out that I didn't have this book."

Rukia smiled. "So where do you go to school?"

"Oh, I go to The University of Tokyo. I study medicine there."

"Really?" She said, giving a dazzling smile. "Why medicine?"

"My family run's a clinic in Karakura Town. I want to be able to take over one day. I'm planning on starting my training at the end of next semester."

The girl nodded appreciatively. "Impressive. That's pretty cool."

"So, are you in school too?"

The girl nodded. "I go to the same school you go to. But I study Law there, so that may be why I've never seen you. I'd remember hair like yours."

Ichigo shifted his chocolate brown eyes upward towards his slightly shaggy, yet still handsome orange hair. "Yeah, I get noticed a lot because of it. Sometimes it brings me unnecessary grief. When I was in high school I used to get teased a lot because of it. And then people would pick fights with me. Then I would get in trouble for winning the fights."

"Oh well then, at least you weren't getting bullied. You had a bite to go with your bark."

"Yeah, unlike those other guys."

She gave a delicate giggle, making Ichigo's heart give an involuntary flutter. He was broken out of his distracted stupor by her hand being held out towards him.

"I'm Kuchiki Rukia. It's nice to meet you."

"O-oh… Kurosaki Ichigo. The feeling's mutual."

Rukia looked at the delicate watch that was on her pale arm before looking up at Ichigo with a smile. "Are you free?"

"Y-yeah, sure I am."

"Then join me for lunch. I wanna hear more about this European Lit class."

"Okay then. Let me just pay for my book, and I'll be ready to go."

Rukia nodded and watched him leave as she smiled to herself. She had been noticing him notice her for the past ten minutes, and had been trying to figure out a way to casually introduce herself. Who would have guessed that just being short would have worked to her advantage? She looked at the book he had given her, and decided that it was worth the buy and followed Ichigo to the checkout counter.

After that was all said and done, Rukia looked up at Ichigo with a smile. "So how's that European Lit class? Who teaches it?"

"Sasakibe Chojiro- sensei. He's really into the whole European aspect, especially the English lifestyle. Everyone makes the joke that he's not even Japanese anymore. But I still really enjoy the class. He aims to make each day a little different."

"Oh, I've heard of him. I hear that he brings in English tea for his class to drink while his students are going over things like Shakespeare, or the Bronte sisters' works."

"Yeah, and that tea takes some time to get used to… Anyways, any classes that you're particularly sweet on?"

"My Ethics class with Ukitake Jushiro is pretty cool. He's very kind, and understanding. To be honest, the only reason I originally took the class was because his teaching assistant was pretty nice, but he got married and moved to Nagasaki. Plus that was around the beginning of the semester."

"Hm." Ichigo said with amusement. "I didn't peg you as the girl who would take a class for a guy."

"Hey, it was a moment of weakness. What are you gonna do?" Rukia said with a slight giggle. "Don't act like you've never taken a class because the teacher or the TA was cute."

Ichigo gave a light blush and turned away. "Well… I did take a Traditional Medicine class taught by Urahara, and his wife and TA, Yoruichi-san, is pretty attractive. But she's kind of… I don't know how to explain it. But she's not as bad as Urahara. He's just insane…"

"I've heard the same. But thankfully, I don't have to take that class."

"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll have your share of crazy teachers by the time you're done with school. Everyone does."

"Well, I'd rather get all of my crazies out of the way first. So, onto another subject, where would you like to go for lunch?"

"I'm pretty much fine with anything."

"Then let's go get some okonomiyaki. I haven't had some in a while, and I was thinking about it earlier. Are you sure you're okay with that?"

Ichigo nodded. "It's fine. I was craving some today too."

The two found a place where they could get some good okonomiyaki and sat talking for a long while. They talked so long that they didn't even realize that they had spent about three hours just talking about nothing.

"So," Rukia started. "How about your family? You said that your family run's a clinic, so you've pretty much grown up around medicine, right?"

"Pretty much. My parents have always wanted to help people. I guess that love for helping people rubbed off on me over the years. My dad's the doctor, and my mom's a Registered Nurse, so they kind of tag team a lot. And then, my two little sisters are considered assistants, so they help too."

"So it really is a family affair. That's really nice."

Ichigo nodded. "So now, since you asked me, I get to ask you. Why are you becoming a lawyer?"

Rukia smiled. "You want the honest answer?"

"Show me what you got."

"Well, I've realized that I love arguing. So I thought, 'why not put it to good use?' And that's why I'm studying law."

"It is not, and you know it."

Rukia giggled. "Okay, okay. My brother in law is a lawyer. I like the fact that he can help people who can't help themselves, at least on a legal level. It really inspired me, so I decided to follow in his footsteps."

"And arguing just helps make the deal all the more sweet?"

"That's right."

Ichigo gave a smirk. "Well that's still pretty cool." He looked at his watch and gave a tiny sigh. He still needed to go home and start on a paper that was due the next week on the book of sonnets he had just bought.

"Do you have to go?"

Ichigo looked at her apologetically. "Yeah, I have a paper that I have to write and it's worth a third of my grade. I really need to start on it."

"When's it due?"

"Oh, the end of next week. It's gotta be six pages and I don't even know how I'm going to start it…" Ichigo sighed putting his head in his hand. Rukia gave a sweet smile.

"Well, what class is it for?"

"My European Lit class. It's for the book I just bought."

Rukia nodded. "Well, I may not know much about Shakespeare's sonnets, but I am pretty good at writing papers."

"Is that so?"

Rukia nodded again, and pulled out a pen and a little piece of paper. She started writing down her phone number before giving it to Ichigo. "You can give me a call anytime, and maybe I could give you a hand with it."

Ichigo nodded nervously. He was not used to feeling this way. But that wasn't to say that he didn't like it. "T-that's fine. Sure! Yeah!" He berated himself mentally for sounding so desperate. Rukia giggled at him, then picked up her check for her food.

"Just give me a little bit of a notice about what the paper is about, okay?"

Ichigo just watched her go to the checkout counter, and quickly after, she was gone. Ichigo couldn't help but feel a smile form on his face. He couldn't stop his heart from pounding, and the butterflies floated around everywhere.

"Wow, Ichigo. That was pretty awesome!"

Ichigo looked up to find his childhood friend looking down at him with a smirk. Ichigo rolled his eyes, the butterflies still not completely gone.

"Thanks Tatsuki."

"So are you going to call her?"

Ichigo got up from his seat and grabbed his check, and the napkin with Rukia's phone number on it, and took his wallet out to get the money to pay.

"I'm seriously considering it." Ichigo said, trying hard to hid his smile.

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**So, this first chapter was written by me, La Vie Musicale. The next chapter will be written by my partner, xXxMiserableLoveFairyxXx, and that will be up soon! Hope you enjoy!**


	2. Stage Two: The Chase

**Author's Note: Hey there readers! It's xXxMiserableLoveFairyxXX. Yes, I am doing a collab for this story, so I hope you all enjoy and review it!**

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**Stage 2: The Chase**

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He drummed his fingers nervously on the desk, his hand reached up and curled into his bright orange hair. He stared longingly at the scrap of paper that had Rukia's phone number on it. He was pondering whether to call her or not.

His eyes rolled back slowly to his laptop screen, with a blank document opened up nearly two hours ago, not even a damn introduction on the sonnets yet.

He let out a small growl before grabbing his bag, digging into it fiercely, and soon found his cell phone.

He activated the touch screen phone pad and dialed in Rukia's number.

It rang a few times before a click was heard.

"_Hello?"_ She asked, Ichigo could how bored she was when she had answered the phone.

"Uh…" How smooth of him, he should've thought out on how to say hello to her.

"_If my crazy friend Rangiku gave you my phone number so you could try to date me, I don't think so, bye."_Ichigo panicked and fumbled around.

"No! Wait! Rukia, it's me, Ichigo!" The tone shifted and he could even imagine Rukia blinking as she held away the phone and put it back to her ear.

"Ichigo?" Rukia asked and Ichigo released a sigh as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, the guy you met in the library a couple of days ago." Ichigo shifted to his laptop and began playing on some computer games.

"I know who you are, so, what's up?" He could hear her chewing on some chips and the tapping of her laptop keyboard as they talked.

"Are you calling to go take up my offer on that essay?" Rukia asked as she cleared her throat and Ichigo smiled uneasily, why else would he call her? I mean, it's not like he was _attracted_ to her or anything…

"Yeah, I kind of need some help, my essay's due in two days and I've got no clue on how to start it." He spoke as he fiddled with his thumbs and he heard a small bit of laughter over the phone.

"I'd love to help you, meet me at the University Apartments; I'll be waiting for you outside of Block 2." He heard the phone click and Ichigo shrugged as he shut off his phone, gathered his laptop, book, and notes into a bag and went out of his apartment. He walked out of his room only to be greeted with his roommate Uryu making coffee.

"Where are you going Kurosaki?" Uryu asked as he took a sip once he finished adding the first packet of sugar. Ichigo grabbed his wallet, keys, and slipped on his shoes.

"Out, bye." Uryu rolled his eyes as Ichigo opened the door and there stood Uryu's girlfriend, Ichigo stepped to the side as Nemu entered in. "Make sure you don't get the sheets dirty!" Ichigo yelled as he closed the door and Uryu blushed red as Nemu stared at him.

"Stupid idiot." Uryu muttered.

Ichigo squinted at the bright sun and started running through his head the way to get to Block 2. He turned to the left and began walking. Block 2 wasn't far and in about three minutes he saw a petite figure standing outside of Block 2. Wearing black sports shorts that reached mid thigh, a comfortable purple v-neck, and her black hair tied up into a high bun, she was listening to her IPod and texting on her phone.

After running a hand through his spiked orange hair, he walked towards her; she looked up at him and gave him a gorgeous smile. He felt his heart just pound a little faster.

"Hey there Ichigo, you ready to go work on your essay?" Rukia asked and Ichigo nodded firmly.

"Yeah, so where do you want to do this?" Ichigo asked as Rukia turned around and started walking, signaling for him to follow.

"We can just do this up in my place, come on." Ichigo followed and shortly reached Rukia's apartment, where she opened the door to a lavender colored apartment. He took off his shoes and placed it near her doorway as she closed her door.

"Just drop off your stuff on the couch. Do you want anything?" Rukia rushed into the kitchen and Ichigo sat on the couch.

"Uh, if you have soda, or water I could have that." Rukia came back with a can of ice cold Cola and set it on the table while she took a sip of her lemon iced water.

Ichigo took out his laptop, notes, and book and set them down on the table. Quickly typing in the password to his laptop and took out the empty document that had resided on his screen. Rukia had already dug into his notes and read each of them thoroughly.

"I have an idea on what I'm going to write, I just don't know how to start this off though." Ichigo stated and Rukia held up one page of his notes and pointed to various points on the sheet of paper.

"Let's use these and then we'll go through your quotes to find which quote fits with which paragraph."

Ichigo and Rukia smiled at each other as they looked through the notes and tried to organize what could be used for his paper.

A couple of hours later, after completing half of his essay, Ichigo stood up.

"I need to use the bathroom." Ichigo said and Rukia pointed to the door at the end of the hallway.

"Down there. I'll save this for you on your computer since it's getting late." Rukia stated as Ichigo muttered a thanks as he walked down to the bathroom briskly. Rukia scanned at all of the energy drinks she had given to him, he had gulped down all of them in a matter of a few seconds.

She went to go save the document and opened the files folder and a file caught her eye. Looking back at the locked bathroom door, she turned her attention back to the document called, _Shakespeare essay_ and opened it. It was a completed essay, Rukia widened her eyes.

The bathroom door unlocked itself and Rukia saw Ichigo walk towards her and sit back down on the couch.

"Are you having problems or something saving our document?" Ichigo asked and Rukia leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared at him.

"I don't know, I don't think I have to save our essay." Ichigo arched an orange brow and looked at Rukia.

"Why are you thinking that?" Ichigo asked and Rukia looked at his computer screen, at the finished essay done a few days ago.

"Because you already have an essay done." Ichigo widened his eyes as his eyes looked over at the completed essay he had finished a few days ago. He was caught. Shit.

"I-I'm sorry. I just-." He was interrupted when Rukia kissed his cheek as she smiled at him and got up.

"You know, if you wanted to spend time with me, you could've just asked." She went to her room and came out with a light jacket and zipped it up. Ichigo arched a brow at her.

"What are you doing?" Ichigo asked as Rukia chucked his shoes at him.

"Come on, you're taking me out." Rukia held out her hand and Ichigo took it readily and she dragged him out of her apartment.

They found themselves at the mall, and Ichigo had went up the ice cream kiosk with Rukia. He looked at her,

"What flavor do you want?" He watched her examine the ten flavors in the kiosk, she pointed to the creamy pink tub with dark red chunks in it. Raising a brow, he forked over the money.

"Two strawberry ice creams please." The cashier took the money and gave two large waffle cones, filled with thick strawberry ice cream. Ichigo handed one to Rukia, which she took gladly and immediately dug in.

They sat down at the edge of the streaming fountain and lapped up their ice cream with their tongues.

"I didn't peg you to be a person to eat your own kind." Rukia teased as her tongue indulged in the icy treat. Ichigo glared at her.

"My name doesn't mean strawberry, it means one who protects. It fits me though." They finished their cones in a comfortable silence and Rukia pointed to the glowing arcade with flashing neon lights.

"Do you play?" Rukia asked as she got up and wiped her moist hands on her shorts. Ichigo got up, looked at the arcade and snorted.

"What do you mean do I play? Of course I play, I'm a male." Rukia took his large hand and began dragging him to the arcade, once inside the clean and dark arcade, Rukia pointed to a bright game.

"You want to play DDR?" Ichigo asked as Rukia fished out her wallet and held up twenty dollars.

"You know how to play right?" Rukia and Ichigo walked over to the coin machine and inserted her bills.

"I beat everyone I play against." Rukia dropped a small amount of coins into his hand while he helped her up onto the platform of the game.

"Oh really now? Let's make it a bet." Rukia smirked devilishly as she crossed her arms against her chest and began moving her foot to find the perfect music on the game.

"Loser has to give something to the winner that is in the mall." Ichigo made up and Rukia nodded her head.

"Sounds reasonable, this song okay?" Rukia asked as Ichigo tapped the okay button.

"Let's go." The game had begun.

Ichigo walked with a cloud of defeat, Rukia was _really_ good at DDR. She had matched all of the moves in the game and did it with ease.

"Alright, I want my payment." They had reached the fountain and Ichigo put his hands in his pockets.

"Well, what do you want?" Ichigo asked and Rukia shrugged with a smile on her face.

"Surprise me, but if you want a suggestion, there's a Chappy store on the upper level." Ichigo tapped a finger onto his chin and smiled.

"I've got a good idea, close your eyes." Rukia immediately shut her eyes and Ichigo took in a deep breath as he came close to her.

"Just keep still okay?" Ichigo whispered and Rukia nodded as he leaned in and gave her a brief peck on the lips. He pulled back to see a smile curl onto her lips as she opened her eyes.

"Someone's bold." Ichigo chuckled as he turned away and Rukia looked at her cell phone.

"Hey," She caught Ichigo's attention and he looked at her, "We have to go now, but we can go out again sometime if you want." Rukia offered and Ichigo held out his arm for her to take, she looped her arm in his and they began walking.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

That day, they had another date, which progressed into many more dates over the next two months.

They had been to festivals, parties, the mall again, restaurants, and did almost everything with each other.

Ichigo waited in Rukia's apartment as she got ready to go the small amusement park they were holding at the local park. Ichigo checked his watch for the fifth time; they needed to be on time for the surprise he was planning.

Rukia came out and waved to him.

He examined her, her hair was slightly curled, wearing a bit of liner, red lips, and a strapless red dress with white polka dots on it. With the red dress, she was wearing a thick white belt that cinched her waist.

She smiled as he got up and scratched the back of his head.

"You look nice." Ichigo commented as he held out his arm for her and she automatically looped her arm in his.

"You look nice too." Rukia commented as they walked out of her apartment and felt the hot summer breeze hit them.

"So, where are we going for our date? They turned on a corner and walked straight.

"Well, since it's my turn to plan our date, I thought I'd take you somewhere special, since it's been three months since we started going out on dates."

"That special place would be?" Rukia asked as Ichigo took out a blindfold.

"It's a surprise, so wear this." Rukia arched a brow at the blindfold, took it, and wrapped it around her eyes gently. Ichigo took Rukia's hand and they began to walk again.

"I'm surprised you're so compliant." Ichigo said as they walked and Rukia rolled her eyes as she smirked.

"Well you did say it was a surprise, I didn't want to ruin it for myself. I'm sure whatever you planned will be fun." Rukia faintly heard loud music that blasted everywhere and Ichigo smiled as they reached the entrance of the amusement park. His fingers went to the blindfold.

"Okay, we're here." Ichigo caught the blindfold as it slipped off of Rukia's face and saw Rukia's face light up.

"It's the amusement park!" Ichigo laughed a little bit at her childish behavior as she grabbed his hand again and ran inside to go buy tickets.

After walking around for an hour or so, going on rides together, and finally picking up some food, they walked past a game. It was those cheesy water gun games, but the grand prize was large Chappy dolls with bows and ribbons tied around its neck. Rukia's eyes filled with excitement once again as she swallowed her cotton candy and pointed at it.

"It's Chappy!" Ichigo looked at the game and arched an orange brow.

"You like a rabbit that's generally aimed for 5-10 year old audiences?" Rukia lightly smacked his arm.

"It's cute, and I really like Chappy. It's one of the things I could never grow out of." Ichigo sighed as he took out three dollars and walked over to the attendant and handed it to him.

"I want to play to get that Chappy doll." Ichigo looked over and saw Rukia smiling as they sat down in the chairs and another couple came up and demanded to play as well. The game had started and Ichigo had easily won after a few minutes. The attendant looked at Rukia and gave a coy smile.

"So Ma'am, what color Chappy do you want?" Ichigo snorted at the attendant, trying to flirt with _his_ date.

"I'm not the one who won the game." Rukia stated and the attendant looked over at Ichigo who glared at him.

"Give me the purple one. Her favorite color is purple." The attendant went to unhook the Chappy doll with the purple ribbon around its neck before Rukia stopped him.

"Actually, give me the orange one," Ichigo looked down at her with puzzled eyes.

"Your favorite color is purple though." Rukia smirked at him and pointed at the orange one.

"I want the orange one, it'll remind me of our date today." The attendant frowned as he stared at Ichigo with menacing eyes. He unhooked the orange one and handed it to Ichigo who swiped it out of his hands. Ichigo then handed the Chappy doll to Rukia who immediately hugged it.

"Thanks Ichigo." Rukia went up and kissed his cheek as they locked arms and began walking away. When Rukia wasn't looking, Ichigo discreetly flipped off the attendant who had been glaring at Ichigo and looked off with disgust as Ichigo smirked.

Ichigo looked at his watch and then gently steered Rukia to his favorite ride.

"So, where are we going next?" Rukia asked as she took a sip out of their shared drink and Ichigo took the cup from her lips to take a sip as well.

"I'm going to take you on my favorite ride; it's good for looking at the sunset since it's almost time for the sun to set." They quickly walked to the ride where a short line was in front of them. They waited for a bit and when they got into the front of the line, handed tickets to the attendant.

"Couple seating right?" Ichigo nodded and the attendant pushed them in and had them do all the safety precautions. He closed the door and locked it.

"The ride will start momentarily, please keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times, and do not move until the ride comes to a complete stop. Thank you." The intercom clicked off and the ride began quickly, rotating them in complete wheels.

"Why do you like this ride so much?" Rukia asked and Ichigo looked out over at the sun beginning to lower itself slowly.

"My mom took me here every single day when the carnival was open. We would always go on this ride; she said looking at the sunset on this ride was the best." Ichigo could feel the ride slowing down, but he looked at Rukia who was enjoying the view of everything surrounding her. He put his arm around her shoulders and Rukia automatically leaned in.

The ride finally stopped and Ichigo almost high fived himself for getting the seat that was right at the top. There was a comfortable silence that enveloped Rukia and Ichigo as they stared at the sky that turned a cool orange, filled with red, pinks, and yellows. The sun turning large and darker was beginning to set over the Karakura Lake and bridge.

"Hey Midget, can I tell you something?" Rukia managed to punch his knee harshly as they stared at the sun.

"Yeah, what is it Strawberry?" They both smiled softly at their nicknames and Ichigo leaned his head on top of hers.

"You're one of the most amazing girls I've ever met, you know that?" Ichigo asked and Rukia stifled a laugh.

"Of course I do, I'm known for being amazing." The sun was barely grazing the bridge as they stared, the bright lights of the city slowly popping up.

"You're awesome, stubborn, a complete psycho, _and_ beautiful." Ichigo let his gaze go down, and he saw Rukia smiling and blushing faintly.

"Go on." The sun now hit the lake and gave off a beautiful reflection on the glimmering water.

"Since we've been dating for months, I was wondering," He took in a deep breath and exhaled,

"Will you be my girlfriend?" Rukia sighed deeply as she lifted her head off of Ichigo's body and grasped his chin and made him face her. She gazed into his eyes and smiled.

"Yes, I'll be your girlfriend." Both leaned and shared a sweet and tender kiss, their free hands intertwining as they kissed and pulled themselves away. Rukia went back to her comfortable position on Ichigo's body as the ride began moving again.

Both smiled contently.

Their chase for each other was over.

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**Author's note: Oh god, I'm so tired. I finished writing this after a week or two. I hoped you like this chapter! This is xXxMiserableLoveFairyxXx please stayed tuned for La Vie Musicale's next chapter! Enjoy, read, and review please!**


	3. Stage Three: Honeymoon

**Chapter 3: Honeymoon**

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Ichigo looked at his watch as class droned on and on. He wasn't one to watch the clock as the class went on, for he knew clock watching would make the class go by even slower. But he couldn't help it. He was going to go meet someone very important, and class just seemed to take the backseat to her. Finally, after fifteen minutes of checking his watch or the clock on the wall, his professor declared class was over. He jumped up from his seat, making his desk partner, a girl with long burnt orange hair look up with a bit of confusion.

"Kurosaki-kun, are you in a hurry?"

Ichigo stopped momentarily and nodded. "Yeah, I'm going to meet someone and I'm kind of in a hurry. So I'll see you tomorrow, Inoue."

"O-okay…"

Ichigo gave a little wave as he rushed out of the classroom to meet Rukia. Orihime looked at her best friend, Arisawa Tatsuki who just gave a wide smile.

"Never thought I'd see him like that…"

"What's going on with him, anyways?"

Tatsuki turned to the brown haired man behind her. "Hey Keigo. He actually has a girl he fancies, and he's rushing to meet her. He's been trying to meet her after her class for a while now. I think her class ends fifteen minutes after our class, so he rushes across campus to meet her."

"Since when has Ichigo had a GIRLFRIEND!"

Orihime looked down sadly. "Kurosaki-kun… has a girlfriend…?"

Tatsuki looked at her friend for a second, and then started to change her story. "Well, they haven't been official for very long."

"Who is she?"

Tatsuki turned around to find yet another man, shorter and with darker hair, who was just looking up from his phone.

"Oh, well I don't know for sure. All I know is that she's studying law over on the other side of the campus."

"We should go check it out! I wanna see her!"

Tatsuki gave a skeptical look. "Really, Keigo? Don't you have better things to be doing?"

"Like what?"

"Like studying, Mr. Lowest Grade in the Class."

"It's not like I'm failing… So I can afford to spy a little bit!"

"Asano-san… I really don't think we should be spying on them like that… Isn't that an invasion of privacy…?"

"Oh, Inoue-san! It's just for a couple minutes! And he wouldn't mind!"

Orihime gave a smile and a weak giggle. "I'm sorry, Asano-san, but I'm going to have to pass. I've got a paper that I need to do before I go to work later. Have fun with your expedition."

"Hm… I wonder what wrong with her…"

Mizuiro and Tatsuki rolled their eyes at Keigo after Orihime was gone. "Okay, Asano-san. Let's go do your stupid stakeout so that we can get back to our lives."

"What's with the separation?"

A minute later, Keigo was leading Tatsuki and Mizuiro towards the direction Ichigo rushed. They reached the part of the campus that was mostly inhabited by Law students. They ran right into a man with long fire truck red hair tied into a ponytail.

"Hey, watch it!"

"Sorry!" Tatsuki smiled. "We're looking for someone! Maybe you could help. Have you seen anyone over here with unmistakable orange hair? He's a little shorter than you."

"Oh, you mean Ichigo? Yeah, he just left with Rukia like five minutes ago."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, they said they were going out for a night on the town whatever that means. They've been inseparable since a month ago. It's kind of annoying, seeing her all mushy with some guy. It's disgusting."

"Well, at least you've had the opportunity to see them together. What's she like?"

A gleam appeared in the red haired man as he heard the question. "She's amazing! She's always full of life and she knows exactly what she wants to do in life! She's just a great person in general!"

Tatsuki and Mizuiro looked at each other with raised eyebrows. "And how do you feel about Ichigo?"

The man shrugged. "He's good enough, I guess. Good personality, I suppose…"

"What's your name, dude?"

"Oh, sorry. I'm Abarai Renji. It's nice to meet you."

"Do you want to go follow them? We don't have anything better to do."

Renji shifted uncomfortably. "That's not really my type of thing. I've got work to do anyways. But if you really want to follow them, they said something about going to the arcade, then heading over to a restaurant for dinner."

"Okay, you two! We are to hurry to the arcade!"

Mizuiro huffed. "Sorry. I have to go meet my girlfriend. But have fun."

Keigo turned to Tatsuki pleadingly. "What about you, Tatsuki? Please?"

"Fine. Let's go." She said. Turning to Renji before they left, she smiled at him. "By the way, guy, don't let your jealousy show too much. You're friend isn't leaving you!"

"W-what? I'm not jealous!"

"Uh huh… Let's go, Keigo. We might miss them! See ya, Renji!"

Renji just blinked, before shrugging and turning away. As he started walking he remembered what had gone on in class earlier that day.

Rukia sat in class, tapping her pencil on her notebook, continuously looking at the clock. Renji turned to her to see looking so impatient.

"Rukia!" He whispered harshly. "You really need to be paying attention."

"Oh, he never says anything important in the last fifteen minutes of class." Rukia said, flipping her phone open. Renji couldn't help but notice that her background image was of herself and Ichigo kissing as she took the picture. The image was taken away as she looked through her messages finding one new message from Ichigo.

"Is that Ichigo?"

Rukia nodded happily. "He said he's waiting outside for me."

"That's pretty cool. He's been doing that a lot lately."

Rukia's face turned a tinted pink as her smile grew. "It makes me happy that he cares so much for me…" She touched the phone to her lips lightly as she thought about him.

"Well, I haven't asked this yet, but as the best friend I need to know: what makes you like him so much?"

"Everything about him makes me like him so much. His personality, his positivity, his looks, especially his hair. He's just an awesome person."

Renji nodded, and turned back to the teacher to see him dismissing class. Rukia jumped up and looked at her best friend. "Come on, Renji! He's waiting!" She smiled grabbing her books.

Renji followed obediently, knowing that not doing as she asked would be a fatal mistake. After going outside, they noticed a certain orange haired young adult standing around getting ogled by people of both sexes, though Rukia really didn't notice due to her tunnel vision. She ran up to Ichigo and swung her arms around Ichigo's waist.

"I knew you were out here, waiting for me!"

"Of course, because I texted you I would be out here."

Rukia just gave a little giggle. "So, how was class?"

"I was bored the whole time." Ichigo said with a little blush. "I just wanted it to be over so I could see you."

Rukia gave a cute giggle. "I felt the same way! Come on, let's go out!"

"Where exactly are we going?"

Rukia winked and gave a shrug. "All you need to know is that we're going out on the town!"

"You have no idea, do you?"

"We can improvise!"

Ichigo scratched the back of his head. "Well, we can start off with the arcade, then dinner?"

Rukia nodded happily. "Sounds like a plan!" She wrapped an arm around Ichigo's and as they walked off, she waved goodbye to Renji.

"I'm not jealous. Just worried…"

Tatsuki and Keigo made their way into the city, looking solely for bright orange hair. That's really all they had to go on.

"He said the arcade, right?"

Tatsuki nodded, still looking around in the medium sized crowd. That's when she saw it. The bright orange hair that could lead a ship back home in the dead of night was standing in front of an ice cream stand.

"Found him!"

"Where? Can you see his girlfriend?"

Tatsuki shook her head. "No, but I wouldn't know what to look for. That Abarai dude didn't really give us anything to go on but her personality and I've really only seen her once."

"Could it be that short girl over there?"

Tatsuki looked as the crowd thinned and found a petite girl with fair skin and dark hair smile up at Ichigo as he said something. He was wearing a smile of his own as he gave her one of the cones that was in his hands.

Tatsuki gave a whistle. "I forgot how pretty she was. Yeah, that's her. I remember how short she was."

Keigo gave a huge pout. "Why does Ichigo get all the pretty girls…? Just once, I'd like to have a pretty girl hanging on my arm…"

"What happened to that one girl?"

Keigo looked at her pitifully. "She dumped me two weeks ago."

Tatsuki rolled her eyes and looked up to see them leaving. "Come on, they're leaving!"

Keigo snapped out of his funk and started following Tatsuki to the couple's new destination. After watching them at the arcade for a while, they left for their next destination.

"Tatsuki, aren't you tired of watching them yet?"

"Shut up. This was your idea. It's just so weird to see him like this…"

Keigo nodded. "I know what you mean… He used to be such a recluse in high school. He would barely hang out with us…"

"He got better after high school though, right?"

"Better than he was. But it was like he was just going through the motions. I don't think he really wanted to be there…"

Tatsuki's eyes softened at the sight of Ichigo with Rukia. He looked so happy. He looked so… in love. That must have been what it was. She hadn't seen him so enamored by anyone since his mother. It was kind of refreshing from his usual serious self. She had been so worried about him. He was like her brother, and she always worried about his happiness and well being.

"Man, they look so in love…"

Tatsuki nodded to Keigo's comment.

"Yeah, they do."

Tatsuki yawned and stretched. "C'mon Keigo, let's go back to the dorms. I'm tired, and honestly I'm not really that much into the spying game."

Keigo nodded in agreement. "Maybe we can get him to introduce us tomorrow."

Tatsuki nodded. "That sounds like a plan." She started walking back to the dorms and Keigo made a point to follow her.

The next day, Ichigo made a point to rush out of the classroom yet again to go find Rukia. Tatsuki and Keigo looked at each other and nodded, jumping up to follow him.

"Hey, Ichigo!"

Ichigo turned to see Tatsuki calling to him, Keigo not far behind him.

"What's up?"

"We were just wondering if you would introduce us to your girlfriend!" Keigo laughed.

Ichigo blinked a couple times. "Since when did you know I had a girlfriend…?"

"It was pretty obvious for a while. So, what's her name, what's she like?"

"Her name's Kuchiki Rukia. And I'm sure she would like to meet you." Ichigo said with a small smile. The two friends followed Ichigo to another part of the campus of their school. They waited for a while until they saw the petite girl from the day before walking out with her books hugged to her chest, and Abarai Renji to her side. She looked up and gave a huge smile, running up to Ichigo and hugging him.

"You never fail to meet me here."

"Well, I get in trouble if I don't."

"Darn right you do." She smiled. Sensing other people there, she turned to see Tatsuki and Keigo standing next to him. "Oh, hello."

"Hi…"

Ichigo cleared his throat. "Guys, this is my girlfriend, Kuchiki Rukia. Rukia, these are my friends, Arisawa Tatsuki, and Asano Keigo."

"Nice to meet some more of Ichigo's friends. He's taken forever to introduce me. I've only met Ishida." Rukia said, play punching his stomach.

Tatsuki gave a smile. "It's nice to meet you too."

"If I may say so myself," Keigo started, "You are quite beautiful, Kuchiki-san."

Rukia blushed with a smile. "Thank you, Asano-san."

"Back up, Keigo. She's Ichigo's girlfriend. Don't try to make a move on her."

"But Tatsuki, she's so pretty! I can't help it!"

Rukia gave a giggle. "Are you two dating?"

"Oh, no! That would never happen!"

Keigo made a pouting face. "Why would you say something like that? That's too cruel!"

Rukia smiled. "My mistake." She turned to Renji. "This is Abarai Renji, a friend of mine. I hope we can all get along."

"Agreed."

Rukia then turned to Ichigo. "Come on. I need help writing my paper, and you said you'd pay for snacks for an all nighter."

"You said nothing about an all nighter…"

"Of course I did. Just now. Now let's get going to the store. I'll even treat you to some chocolate."

"Fine. You promised."

Tatsuki noticed Renji look at Ichigo and Rukia with concern as the couple joked, making her roll her eyes. He really needed to get his emotions in check…It wasn't like Rukia was really leaving him or anything... Tatsuki sent a quick message to Ichigo after they left the group.

Ichigo opened his phone after his friends were gone and read Tatsuki's message.

'_She seems good for you, Ichigo. You had better take care of her and don't take her for granted. There are plenty of guys and girls who would love to see your relationship fail. Just make sure you don't mess it up, okay?'_

* * *

**That definitely took me forever… I didn't mean for it to be so long. I just couldn't think of a good perspective to put it in. So I thought, why not bring other people into the story. So I hope you liked it, and I apologize for taking so damn long. I'm usually not this bad… Okay, I'm usually worse… Anyways, next is my buddy's chapter, so get ready! Please Review~! Lots of Love~!**


	4. Stage Four: Comfortable

**Author's note: So we're back!**

**Strangers Again**

**Stage 4: Comfortable**

"Hurry _up_. I've got to go!" Rukia whined as she fidgeted around outside of Ichigo's apartment door. He twisted the door knob, pushing it so Rukia could rush inside. She kicked off her shoes as Ichigo locked the door behind him. Slipping off his shoes, he moved to the magazine rack sitting by the door. He searched through it quickly, pulling out Uryu's secret stash of _Cosmopolitan_. Ichigo held it up in the air.

"Do you have to go to the bathroom, or _to_ the bathroom?" Rukia came up to him as she grabbed the magazine out of his hands.

"_To_the bathroom, I'm scared I'll make things smell not so pleasant though." Rukia whined, Ichigo grabbed her face with his hands and kissed her on the lips.

"I'll just tell Uryu it was me." Rukia kissed him back as she went out of his arms.

"Love you Ichigo." Rukia rushed off into the bathroom, Ichigo took the homework on his desk, sitting on the couch as he began working on it.

Being comfortable with her was the best thing ever.

**Other day:**

The music in the car played loudly as Rukia sang along. Rukia's and Ichigo's hands were interlocked, his other hand gripping on the wheel as they drove to the supermarket so Ichigo could cook them dinner.

Rukia had her head leaned up against the window, her feet kicked up on the dashboard as they drove through the busy streets of Karakura.

Rukia felt her head lean out of the car as all of the windows were rolled down. Rukia turned her head back around to see Ichigo panicking.

"Did you do what I think you just did?" Rukia asked, Ichigo looked at her, and looked back at the road.

"No, I just wanted to," He stalled, "I wanted to get some fresh air. That's right, fresh air." Rukia rolled her eyes at his lame cover up.

"It's hot as tits outside, and you're going to tell me you want to ditch air conditioning?" Rukia sighed as she rolled up her windows and smiled at him. Ichigo stared at her in shock but he went back to looking on the street.

"I freaking love you." Rukia smiled as they both began to sing to the song that came on the radio.

**Two weeks later:**

"So, do I get the plastic or cardboard ones?" Ichigo asked, talking on his cellphone, which was wedged between his shoulder and his ear. Holding two boxes, one labeled plastic applicators, and one saying cardboard applicators. He heard Rukia groan on the other end.

"Plastic ones, cardboard hurts. I can't thank you enough." Ichigo put back the cardboard one and began making his way up the aisle.

"It's not a big deal babe, you can thank me later."

"Our date isn't cancelled right? I know you put a lot of time in it." Rukia moaned, feeling bad for semi-ruining their picnic date that was supposed to be happening right now.

"Accidents happen, don't worry about it. It's not cancelled; I'll be right over in ten minutes." Ichigo hung up as he put down the box on the counter. The cashier scanned it.

"For your girlfriend?" The cashier asked, Ichigo pulled out the amount of yen he would need.

"Nah, they're for me." Ichigo handed the cashier the yen, the cashier giving Ichigo a weird look as he put the money in the register. "What, a guy can't bleed down there too?" The cashier bagged the tampons, with the receipt. Handing Ichigo the change.

"Have a good afternoon sir." The guy was obviously feeling awkward. Ichigo smiled as he pocketed the change and grabbed the back.

"I'll be thinking of you when I use them." Ichigo walked out laughing as he heard the cashier shriek with fright.

**Another day:**

Rukia was going clothes shopping, picking out a cute top, holding it against her body to see if it would look good on her. She dumped it into her basket, so she could try it on later. Ichigo, who was holding the basket, rolled his eyes as Rukia couldn't decide if the purple or black over the shoulder top would look better on her.

"Ichigo?" Rukia asked, holding up two identical shirts, but of different colors. Ichigo took the black one and put it into the basket.

"The black one, are you done? I need to get something." Rukia arched her brow as she put back the purple one.

"What do you need?" Rukia asked as they began walking to the men's section. Ichigo walked past through the clothes and went straight into the underwear section.

"Ichigo, why are we here?" Rukia asked as Ichigo stopped in front of the underwear section.

"Because I told everybody about Renji having to run naked from a girl's house to his house a couple of houses down, he hung all of my underwear on the telephone wires. So I have to get new pairs." Ichigo shamefully admitted, Rukia laughed as she picked up four packs of plain white underwear and dumped it into the basket.

"Renji would do something like that." Ichigo groaned at the memory of seeing Renji laugh evilly as Ichigo realized all of his underwear was up for show in Karakura.

"Thanks Rukia." Rukia and Ichigo intertwined hands as they walked to the cashier. Rukia holding up a pack of white underwear with strawberries and bunnies on it.

"You have to get this!" Ichigo stared at it, sighed, grabbed it, and dumped it into the basket.

"You're going to be the only one who knows about these pairs." Ichigo grumbled as Rukia's smile became wide.

"I love you." Rukia sang, as Rukia handed the cashier her credit card.

"I love you too." Ichigo said, wrapping an arm around her waist as Rukia signed the receipts.

**Author's note: I hope that helps with the comfortable stage that Ichigo and Rukia have just entered. I'm sorry I haven't updated, but yeah. Thank you for reading and reviewing this story! It means a lot to us!**


	5. Stage Five: Tolerance

**Okay, I am soooo sorry that I took so long to update this story! I have had so much stuff to do lately and I just don't know where time has gone. That and plus my stupid laptop has had some maintenance problems! But I'm here now, and I guess that's all that matters.**

**Don't own, belongs to appropriate owners.**

* * *

**Stage 4: Tolerance**

Ichigo rolled his eyes as he watched his girlfriend watch that stupid kid's show again, Chappy the Rabbit. This was the second hour of the thirty minute show, and quite frankly, he was just plain tired of it. He would rather shoot himself in the foot than watch that stupid show any more. And yet, he felt as though he was trapped there. Even though he knew he could easily have walked out of that door and gone back to his own dorm, and that she wouldn't be able to do anything to stop him. He just sat there and endured the torture as it happened. And that's honestly all it was. Torture. And she knew it. She also knew that he wouldn't leave because he respected her far too much.

Unknowingly, he released a loud sigh, making his girlfriend's head snap around all too quickly.

"I'm sorry, Ichigo, is this boring you?"

Ichigo turned from Rukia, knowing that it was a loaded question. Anything he said would turn into a fight. If he lied, she would respond with a,

"I know you're just lying to get out of it!"

And if he told the truth, she would respond with a….

Well, he honestly didn't know what she would respond with. Maybe tonight would be a perfect way to find out.

"Actually, Rukia, it is kind of boring me. I just don't understand how you could be so interested in such a childish show."

Ichigo saw as her face inflated like an angry red balloon, going to pop at any minute. He had done it now.

"I cannot BELIEVE how insensitive you are, Kurosaki Ichigo! You know how long I have liked Chappy, and I have never missed a show! This is my favorite thing in the world!"

"Yeah?" Ichigo said as he breathed a humorless laugh. "Well, it seems more like an obsession than anything else…"

"Well, if you don't want to be here, you could just leave! No one is stopping you!"

Ichigo sighed. "Look, I didn't want this to turn into some sort of fight. If it will make you feel better, I'll just shut up and watch the show with you."

"If you don't want to be here, Ichigo, then I don't want you here."

Ichigo sighed roughly and got up from his spot on the floor next to Rukia. As he got to the door, he looked back at his girlfriend, who was probably steaming as she watched the television, and sighed.

He honestly didn't want to leave on a note like that.

Rukia made sure that Ichigo had closed the door before she turned around. It was almost… surreal. They had been ending dates or gatherings like that more and more often, and honestly, it scared her a bit. They had been so strong for the year they had been together. Neither of them noticed it happening.

And then, their first major fight.

Rukia would admit. It had been over something stupid. And it was probably the reason why Ichigo had started getting fed up with Chappy.

For his English Literature class, he had decided to do another report on Shakespeare, and honestly, it wasn't something Rukia minded.

What she HAD minded was that he had started doing nothing but read Shakespeare. He even blew her off to read it in his room. She understood that people do need their alone time, but he kind of took it too far for her measures. So she blew up at him about it. And he retaliated with something of a Chappy slur. And after that, the fight lasted for a week because both parties were way too stubborn to give.

Then, they both gave in at the same time, and they went out to dinner to celebrate the end of their fight.

But nothing was ever the same.

It was after that, when they started having fights more frequently, did she honestly start to notice. They were too far gone though. Much too far gone. At this point in time, there wasn't much that could be done.

Ichigo made his way back to his dorm room in the setting sunlight of the fall eve. It was slightly nippy, but Ichigo needed the cool air to help him clear his head of the mini-fight that he had just had with Rukia. He was trying to be understanding. Trying but failing…

"Kurosaki-kun!"

Ichigo turned around to find Orihime walking towards him with a smile. It was actually quite a refresher from what he had been dealing with.

"Hey, Inoue. How's it going?"

Orihime's smile grew. "Pretty good. I just came from a friend's house because we're working on a project together. He can be pretty hard to get through to, but he's not bad."

"Oh, you mean Ulquiorra? Yeah, I used to have problems with him. But he's not bad." Ichigo said with a weary smirk.

Orihime's smile dropped and was replaced by a concerned look. "Is everything okay? You seem kind of down…"

Ichigo sighed. "I just had a mini-fight with Rukia. We've been doing that a lot lately, and I don't know how to fix it. It just seems sort of surreal, you know? We would never leave things in the air for more than an hour, and we would fix it right then and there. But now… It seems like both of us feel like it's too broken to fix but we don't have the heart to throw it out."

Orihime nodded. "Well, Kurosaki-kun, nothing is every truly broken. Anything can be fixed. But it honestly depends on the effort that is put into it. If you really want to fix it, then it will be fixed. But if you don't want to fix it, then the only thing to really do is throw it out. You know?"

"Yeah, I get it. I guess it really just depends on us seeing how valuable it really is… huh…"

Orihime gave a nod. "But, you know Kurosaki-kun…"

"Yeah?"

She gave a smile. "Please don't just throw it out. I've seen how happy she makes you. Every relationship has bad times. It's just part of having a relationship. But you two are good together. I'll be kind of sad if things don't work out."

Ichigo smiled. "Thanks, Inoue."

Orihime gave a blush and smile. "No problem! Now let's see if we can go get some dinner before the cafeteria closes!"

Rukia was awoken by her cell phone ringing loudly. She slowly turned over to get it, and groggily answered it.

"Are you okay? You missed class!" Renji's voice came from the other side of the phone. Rukia quickly sat up and looked at her digital clock and saw that it was dark. Why was it dark?! She sighed. Because she had stayed up late thinking about her situation with Ichigo and the constantly changing numbers were starting to annoy her. So, she unplugged it, and forgot to plug it back in before she went to sleep.

"What time is it, Renji?"

"Half past noon. Man, when you oversleep, you oversleep!"

"Oh, shut up…"

Renji laughed. "So, what was so important that you missed class? Did it have something to do with Ichigo?"

"Actually, yeah it did. You got time to come over before your next class?"

Renji shuffled a bit, and Rukia assumed he was looking at his watch. "Sure, I got time. Everything okay?"

"I'll explain when you get here."

Renji heard the click at the end of the call and rushed over to Rukia's dorm. In five minutes he was at her door, knocking quite loudly.

"Rukia! Are you there?"

The door opened, revealing Rukia still in her oversized night shirt and shorts. He readjusted his bag on his shoulder and walked in as she gestured.

"So, what's going on?"

Rukia sighed. "How to start? I guess it would be simple to just say that Ichigo and I are having relationship problems. But it's honestly not that simple. We have fights almost every time we see each other and it doesn't seem to be getting better at all. And I don't know what to do to fix it. I'm not asking for advice, I'm just confused. I guess I wouldn't mind having a male's perspective on it?"

Renji rubbed the back of his neck nervously, and sighed. "Well, to be honest… I kind of like the guy. I mean, he treats you with respect. And you're brother even likes him. But… why should you force yourself into something that's being so taxing on both of you…? I mean, if you're fighting all the time, and waiting so long to make up, there has to be something wrong."

"So, you're saying that I should just give it up?"

"N-no! Not at all! I'm just saying… well… try as hard as you can, but in the end, if the feelings aren't there… then you shouldn't force them just because it feels comfortable… I guess…"

Rukia nodded. "Yeah… you have a good point I suppose…"

Renji looked at his friend, then gave a huge smirk. "Hey, let's skip the rest of our classes! We can just have a hang out day, you know?"

"Don't you have work though?"

"I can call in sick! I have days that have added up, so they can let me one afternoon off."

Rukia smiled. "Okay, that sounds like a plan then."

Rukia came back from her outing with Renji and plopped on her bed. It was a nice distraction, but… she still had to deal with the Ichigo problem. Was she honestly still with him because it was comfortable? Or was it something that they could fix if they tried? She wanted nothing more than to do what was best for both of them. What if their relationship was toxic? What if their relationship was the best thing that would ever happen to her? So many thoughts were going through her mind and she had no answers to any of her questions.

Ichigo sat on his bed, staring at his phone. There was only one thing on his screen: Rukia's contact information. He wanted to call her… But there was something that was holding him back. Would this turn into another fight? Would anything actually get resolved?

"I need to do it… We need to figure out what the hell is going to happen with us…"

Before he could press the send button, a call came in on his cell phone from Rukia. He waited a minute before picking it up, giving a huge sigh in the process.

"Hello?"

"Um…" Rukia responded. "Hey…"

"Hey…"

There was a long silence before anything continued.

"So… I think we need to talk…" Ichigo started.

"I was thinking the same thing…"

"Maybe we should do this in person?" Ichigo suggested. Rukia agreed and they decided to meet up at a bench on campus facing the sunset.

Ichigo looked up as Rukia came and sat down next to him. "So… here we are…" He said as she sat down.

"Here we are…"

"Never thought we would be sitting down having a serious talk like this."

"But, I suppose it's necessary in a serious relationship." Rukia said without missing a beat.

There was a long silence. Then Ichigo looked at Rukia with a serious face.

"I'll just get straight to the point… Do you want to break up, or do you want to work this out?"

Rukia looked shocked and didn't say a word, allowing Ichigo to continue.

"I'm gonna be honest, these past few months have been pretty crazy, and I feel like every time we see each other, we get into a fight over something that is not even worth it. And I have conflicting emotions right now. There are equal parts of me that want to give up but also want work things out. And I don't know which way to turn yet…"

"I… I feel the same way, Ichigo…" Rukia said. The words, they sounded so bitter as they left her mouth. They had a horrible aftertaste that she never, ever thought she would taste, especially with him, her first love.

"So… what are we going to do…?"

Rukia sighed. "Well… We should…"

* * *

**A/N: Sorry, but that's all I'm going to give you kiddies. And I know that that's asking a whole lot especially when I had you waiting so long anyways, but please wait until the next chapter to find out what they decided! I'm sure it will be a good read, for the next chapter is not going to come from me! **

**Love you Always,**

**La Vie Musicale~**


	6. Stage Six: Downhill

**Author's note: Hi guys! I'm back – it's xXxMiserableLoveFairyxXx writing you your next chapter! Aren't you guys excited, there'll be another two more chapters after this one! Get ready for the tissues I suppose.**

**Stage six: Downhill**

_**In Stage Five:**_

_"I'll just get straight to the point… Do you want to break up, or do you want to work this out?"_

_Rukia looked shocked and didn't say a word, allowing Ichigo to continue._

_"I'm gonna be honest, these past few months have been pretty crazy, and I feel like every time we see each other, we get into a fight over something that is not even worth it. And I have conflicting emotions right now. There are equal parts of me that want to give up but also want work things out. And I don't know which way to turn yet…"_

_"I… I feel the same way, Ichigo…" Rukia said. The words, they sounded so bitter as they left her mouth. They had a horrible aftertaste that she never, ever thought she would taste, especially with him, her first love._

_"So… what are we going to do…?"_

_Rukia sighed. "Well… We should…"_

"Well…We should…" Rukia bit her lips to stop herself from the immense pain washing over her. She had to face it. She knew she wasn't happy anymore in the relationship. She didn't want to hurt their relationship anymore with the incessant fighting.

"We should probably break up." Rukia felt a rush of pain into her heart, she was numb. She looked up at Ichigo who stayed still and looked in shock. He turned his gaze from the cement to look at her with tear glazed eyes.

"Do you really…want that?" Ichigo asked quietly, he felt his heart stop in the moment she said the words 'break up'. He remembered all the fights, and wished so badly that they could've fixed things, not fight over the stupid stuff they had. Maybe if they hadn't fought, maybe their relationship wouldn't have turned to this.

"I don't think we both deserve getting hurt by each other with this fighting. We were fighting too much; it's hurting you and me." Rukia stated quietly, she saw Ichigo rub a hand over his face in distress.

"Is it because you don't love me anymore?" Ichigo asked, he couldn't feel anything, and wondered if Rukia was in distress too. The air between them was tense, and it remained silent for a few moments. Ichigo got his answer to his question as he saw a tear slip down Rukia's face quickly.

"Please don't think it's because I don't love you." Rukia stifled a sob, Ichigo desperately wanted to wipe the growing amount of tears racing down her face. "I-I-I love you so much. I just can't do this anymore." Rukia shuddered as she stifled the sobs.

"Then don't leave." Ichigo muttered as he tried to take Rukia's hand, but she pulled it away from his grasp.

"Isn't our fighting hurting you too? Please don't lie to me and say that you haven't felt our relationship going to shit quickly." Rukia saw Ichigo sigh sadly as he turned to stare down at the cement.

Raking a hand through his spiky locks, he felt horrible for his true thoughts to her question.

"Yeah, it's been emotionally draining." Ichigo saw Rukia nod slowly.

"What do you want Ichigo?" Rukia and Ichigo leaned forward to watch the fading sunset that was presented towards them.

The silence ensued again – making things awkward between the two.

"Rukia, you're my first love…I love you so much. But you're right, this relationship is too much for us to handle. Maybe we do need to break up." The sun was gone, everything was dark now.

"So we agree then…we're officially broken up?" Rukia asked as Ichigo wiped away the tear that fell out of his eye.

"Yeah…I guess so." Ichigo heard Rukia let out a sob.

"I-I-I'm so sorry Ichigo. I tried, I know we both tried…I love you so much. I still want to be with you – but I feel so dead from this dying relationship." Rukia felt Ichigo embrace her tightly as she sobbed into his thin jacket.

"I feel the same way too." Ichigo let go of Rukia as she gently pushed him away. "I'm sorry too," Rukia wiped the tears from her eyes. "Maybe if it happens, maybe fate will give us another chance." Ichigo said sadly as he looked up at the clear and dark night.

"Yeah, maybe." Rukia and Ichigo turned to face each other. They gave each other a sad smile. "You were a great boyfriend. I love you Ichigo." Ichigo smiled sadly.

"You were a great girlfriend. I love you too Rukia." Both of them hugged each other awkwardly and then departed. Rukia kissed Ichigo on the cheek softly and got up.

"I'll see you around Ichigo. This is goodbye I guess." Ichigo nodded as he waved her off.

"Yeah, it's goodbye… I'm sorry we couldn't work things out Rukia." Ichigo admitted as Rukia had turned on her heel, her back facing him. She turned to face him.

"Don't be, it's my fault too. Bye Ichigo." Rukia dipped her head to say goodbye to him as she began walking. She felt her heart becoming number, and felt a small ache.

'_So that's what heartbreak feels like.'_ Rukia thought as she felt herself sobbing again as she walked off to her apartment.

Ichigo saw Rukia's retreating figure and sighed sadly as he brought a hand to his face. He wiped away the tears that fell from his face and got up.

'_God, I miss her already.'_Ichigo thought silently as he began walking to his apartment too.

Later:

Rukia entered the key into her apartment and slipped into her apartment. Rukia saw her best friend Matsumoto lounging on the couch, eating chocolate while watching T.V.

Matsumoto looked up to see Rukia slipping off her shoes.

"Hey Rukia, where have you been? I've been waiting all day for you!" Matsumoto exaggerated and waited for a reply. When she didn't receive one, she turned to look at Rukia who had moved to the kitchen, pouring herself a drink.

"Rukia?" Matsumoto asked, Rukia came into the living room and smiled sadly at Matsumoto. Matsumoto saw the dried up tears and the current tears on Rukia's face. Matsumoto jumped up and rushed to Rukia's side.

"Rukia, what happened?!" Matsumoto asked as she gently shook Rukia, Rukia turned to face Matsumoto and sadly smiled at her.

"Ichigo and I broke up; we couldn't handle the fighting anymore." Rukia admitted as she began crying even harder, Rangiku immediately wrapped her arms around Rukia in a tight embrace.

"I'm sorry honey. I'm sure it was for the best." Rukia felt the tears drop onto Rangiku's bare arms.

"It was, but it doesn't feel like it." Rukia muttered as Rangiku held her even tighter.

"It's okay Rukia, it's okay." Rangiku silently said as Rukia sobbed into her arm.

Meanwhile:

Ichigo walked into his apartment to see Uryu and Nemu having dinner together. Ichigo rushed to the kitchen and grabbed the small stash of alcohol he kept around for himself.

Ichigo gulped down the contents immediately, feeling the burning sensation in his throat. Uryu got up and stood in front of Ichigo as Ichigo wiped his lips with his sleeve.

"What's up with you today Kurosaki?" Ichigo looked up at Uryu, stunning Uryu with his blood shot eyes from crying.

"Not in the mood for you Uryu." Ichigo muttered as he side stepped Uryu and walked into his room, quietly closing the door. Nemu got up and linked her arm with his, putting a hand on his chest.

"Go talk to him, he needs you right now." Nemu said quietly, Uryu took her hand and kissed it while cradling it.

"I'll be right back." Nemu nodded as Uryu slipped out of her hold and went to Ichigo's room. Uryu knocked before coming in.

"What happened Ichigo?" Uryu asked quietly as he leaned against the closed door. Ichigo sat on the edge of his bed in only shorts. Ichigo looked up at Uryu and shrugged.

"Rukia and I broke up; I don't know what to do without her now." Uryu saw Ichigo grip his forehead with a hand and heard a small sob erupt from Ichigo's throat.

"I love her so much, it sucks Ishida, it sucks." Ichigo admitted as Uryu stayed silent.

"I'm sure it was for the best, since it's clearly obvious both of you love each other." Ichigo rubbed his hand over his face.

"I just regret breaking up with her. I'd rather fight every day and be with her, than feel like this now." Ichigo felt Uryu walk up to him and clap a hand on his shoulder.

"Sometimes Kurosaki, if you love someone, you know when it's time to let go when you're hurting them." Uryu sat down next to Ichigo as Ichigo nodded and collapsed onto his bed.

"Thanks Ishida." Ichigo muttered as he lay still on his bed. Uryu patted his shoulder and got off his bed, heading towards the door.

"Good night Kurosaki, stay strong." Uryu said quietly as he walked out and closed the door behind him. Ichigo reached over and grabbed the picture of him and Rukia on the day he asked her out. He held it close to his face.

"Why did we have to become like this?" Ichigo asked as he cradled the picture close to him as he departed to a slumber.

**Author's note: I hope all of you readers are off to the New Year with a great start! Stay safe, party hard, and wait for the next two chapters! :'D Good luck, read, and review us!**

**-Love xXxMiserableLoveFairyxXx**


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